Updated Ubuntu 24.10 Install Image Released For Snapdragon X1 Elite Laptops

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Updated Ubuntu 24.10 Install Image Released For Snapdragon X1 Elite Laptops

In mid-October was the release of a developer preview for Ubuntu 24.10 on Qualcomm Snapdragon X1 powered laptops. Yesterday an updated Ubuntu 24.10 release was made available catering to these popular, current-generation ARM-powered laptops that typically ship with Windows 11 for ARM...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Ubuntu-24.10-Update-X1E

[peterdk]

Just yesterday got USB-C DP output working on my XPS 13 with a experimental patch. Quite some progress the last 4 weeks. Still limited to 2 lanes thus 30hz 4k, but we are getting close to the point where I can actually use my laptop as main driver instead of my desktop. Power is still a thing, I guess 33% of runtime compared to Windows, but I use it mainly corded through USB-C.

GPU accelerated Gnome is fluent and CPU performance is excellent!

[mittorn]

GPU accelerated Gnome is fluent and CPU performance is excellent!

Does not it freeze entire compositor when showing shell popup menus (like wifi settings and etc...)?

[peterdk]

Does not it freeze entire compositor when showing shell popup menus (like wifi settings and etc...)?

Haven't encountered that. And just tested it out as well, I can select wifi networks etc in the system topbar popup thing without issues. Or in the gnome settings.

[varikonniemi]

What a mess they have to release an image for one product instead of just using an arm image for all arm products. Like x86-64 for all pc:s.

[rmnscnce]

What a mess they have to release an image for one product instead of just using an arm image for all arm products. Like x86-64 for all pc:s.

That's because on most consumer ARM devices, the device tree (basically the list of all peripherals connected to the main device board) is attached to the kernel boot image. On one hand, this allows one to tune the GPU voltage steps quite easily through the kernel sources, but it also makes it hard to come up with a generic kernel image that all devices can use.

[coder]

Good news. If I needed a laptop right now, this announcement would probably give me the confidence to try a Snapdragon X.

[Dukenukemx]

Good news. If I needed a laptop right now, this announcement would probably give me the confidence to try a Snapdragon X.

Why buy a Snapdragon X based laptop? They had marginally better battery life, until AMD released their Strix Point chips and Intel released their Lunar Lake chips. The only reason to buy a Snapdragon X based laptop is because you're a sadist, or they're heavily discounted. This is pretty cheap but I do value my time.

[coder]

Why buy a Snapdragon X based laptop?

I think it's time to move beyond x86, and so I'd be willing to vote with my $$$. With Qualcomm directly supporting Linux on their device, that puts them ahead of Apple in my book.

P.S. thanks for the link!

[Dukenukemx]

I think it's time to move beyond x86, and so I'd be willing to vote with my $$$.

Not money well spent I assure you.

With Qualcomm directly supporting Linux on their device, that puts them ahead of Apple in my book.

Being ahead of Apple isn't an achievement. Nvidia just started to open source their drivers and that's ahead of Apple, but it's also behind AMD and Intel by a lot. It took Qualcomm a long time to get this far, and it still needs more work. Not to mention that you need distros to cater to this hardware specifically, which limits your choice of distros.

P.S. thanks for the link!

You weren't suppose to buy it. Here's the same laptop with a Ryzen AI 9 365 in it.